1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to spinning top toys, specifically to those which are spun using the fingers of one hand.
2. Description of Prior Art
Spinning top toys have been enjoyed by young and old for generations. For this reason, there have been a number of commercially successful spinning top toys.
Heretofore, a wide variety of spinning top toys have been proposed and implemented. However, there have been few significant improvements in this crowded art which have caught the imagination of users and provided surprising, exciting, and intriguing performance.
In order to function well, spinning top toys need to be able to maintain their balance at relatively low speeds of rotation achieved when spun with the fingers of one hand. Prior art devices accomplished this by including significant mass as an integral part of their structures.
The additional size, weight and material required by this structural mass is a formerly unrecognized problem which increases the manufactured cost of these devices.
Another problem is that the structure of prior art devices precludes any possibility of the user being surprised. That is, a user will immediately recognize a prior art device as a top structure and as a result of handling and observing its size, weight, and balance will expect such device to readily spin.
In addition, no prior art device was constructed so that it could perform alternatively as a racing toy.
Most manufacturers and users of spinning top toys would therefore find it desirable to have a spinning top toy which required a minimum of size, mass and material to produce and provided users with surprising, exciting and intriguing performance.